Burden of proof shifts to sheriff

By The Daily News

Published: Friday, April 18, 2014 at 08:05 PM.

Until recently­, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown has shown a keen understanding of why law-enforcement offices should turn over investigations with internal implications to outside agencies. In fact, Brown has tied his career to that ethic. In 1979, then-police Capt. Ed Brown was fired from the Jacksonville Police Department over his disapproval of the JPD’s administrative handling of an internal rape complaint. Brown felt strongly enough about a decision to proceed with an internal probe of an intern’s accusation against a training officer, that he reached outside the police department in his quest for justice. That decision to break ranks ended up getting him fired, but Brown today wears his dismissal from the JPD like a badge of honor. Why then — when the sheriff encountered a situation with potential repercussions for his own re-election campaign — did Brown ignore the very tenets he has championed and instead take matters into his own hands? The future of his job could ride on the answer to that question. Being sheriff has become part of Brown’s identity, but he deserves to lose the office he has held for 24 years if he placed political motives before his responsibilities as the county’s top law-enforcement officer. The controversy he now faces, involving his handling of a possible criminal allegation made against his challenger for sheriff, is that serious. The story that has unfolded over the past week has raised fundamental questions about Brown’s integrity. It is much different than the sheriff’s previous firestorms that involved his unconventional techniques or strict personnel rules. The sheriff has said the suspect in a series of bomb threats provided him with information that somehow ties those threats to Brown’s primary opponent, veteran law officer Hans Miller. In a tape-recorded telephone conversation with dark political overtones, Brown confronted Miller with vague accusations, threatening him with prosecution or media exposure. Brown’s role in that call was not an interrogation or quest for more information; it was pure political aggression, less about justice and seemingly more about revenge for calls to a radio talk show. The evidence now in the hands of District Attorney Ernie Lee will help determine if Brown’s conduct was justified. The people of Onslow County need assurances that their sheriff acted properly. If the evidence instead shows Brown used an ongoing criminal investigation for political intimidation, he should resign or be removed from office. When an elected sheriff crosses the line of abusing his official authority, he reaches a point of no return. Brown could have avoided these questions by calling in JPD interviewers already familiar with the bomb-threat case or the State Bureau of Investigation. At whatever moment the sheriff’s political race surfaced as a possible factor, Brown should have recused himself to maintain the investigation’s propriety. Sheriff Brown could have done better by looking back on his early tribulations in law enforcement and recognizing that the principles he steadfastly defended in 1979 still apply.

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Until recently­, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown has shown a keen understanding of why law-enforcement offices should turn over investigations with internal implications to outside agencies.
In fact, Brown has tied his career to that ethic. In 1979, then-police Capt. Ed Brown was fired from the Jacksonville Police Department over his disapproval of the JPD’s administrative handling of an internal rape complaint.
Brown felt strongly enough about a decision to proceed with an internal probe of an intern’s accusation against a training officer, that he reached outside the police department in his quest for justice. That decision to break ranks ended up getting him fired, but Brown today wears his dismissal from the JPD like a badge of honor.
Why then — when the sheriff encountered a situation with potential repercussions for his own re-election campaign — did Brown ignore the very tenets he has championed and instead take matters into his own hands?
The future of his job could ride on the answer to that question. Being sheriff has become part of Brown’s identity, but he deserves to lose the office he has held for 24 years if he placed political motives before his responsibilities as the county’s top law-enforcement officer.
The controversy he now faces, involving his handling of a possible criminal allegation made against his challenger for sheriff, is that serious.
The story that has unfolded over the past week has raised fundamental questions about Brown’s integrity. It is much different than the sheriff’s previous firestorms that involved his unconventional techniques or strict personnel rules.
The sheriff has said the suspect in a series of bomb threats provided him with information that somehow ties those threats to Brown’s primary opponent, veteran law officer Hans Miller.
In a tape-recorded telephone conversation with dark political overtones, Brown confronted Miller with vague accusations, threatening him with prosecution or media exposure. Brown’s role in that call was not an interrogation or quest for more information; it was pure political aggression, less about justice and seemingly more about revenge for calls to a radio talk show.
The evidence now in the hands of District Attorney Ernie Lee will help determine if Brown’s conduct was justified. The people of Onslow County need assurances that their sheriff acted properly.
If the evidence instead shows Brown used an ongoing criminal investigation for political intimidation, he should resign or be removed from office. When an elected sheriff crosses the line of abusing his official authority, he reaches a point of no return.
Brown could have avoided these questions by calling in JPD interviewers already familiar with the bomb-threat case or the State Bureau of Investigation. At whatever moment the sheriff’s political race surfaced as a possible factor, Brown should have recused himself to maintain the investigation’s propriety.
Sheriff Brown could have done better by looking back on his early tribulations in law enforcement and recognizing that the principles he steadfastly defended in 1979 still apply.